In the documents WO93/12294, WO93/12295 and WO93/12296, the present applicants disclosed a railway rail fastening system in which a rail fastening clip is driven laterally onto the rail and can be held in a clip anchoring device (shoulder) in a “pre-assembly” or “parked” position in which the toe portion of the clip does not bear on the rail. This enables railway sleepers to be preloaded at the factory with clips which are held in the pre-assembly position such that when the sleepers are delivered to site the clips can simply be driven home once the rail is in place. In addition, when maintenance of the rail or sidepost insulators (which lie between the rail and the shoulder) is subsequently required, the clip can be driven off the rail back into the pre-assembly position, or further into an “insulator-change position” in which the clip does not overlie the sidepost insulator, so complete withdrawal of the clip from the shoulder is not necessary. Such clips are sometimes known as “switch-on/switch-off” clips. Such a fastening system has proved to be very successful, but the applicant is desirous of making improvements to some aspects of its manufacture and use.
WO93/12294, WO93/12295 and WO93/12296 disclose a resilient railway rail fastening clip for fastening a railway rail to an underlying foundation, the clip being such that it can be deflected from a non-operative configuration to at least one operative configuration in which a toe portion of the clip bears on a railway rail, in which the clip is made from a rod of resilient material shaped so as to have, proceeding from one end A of the rod to the other end B of the rod, firstly a substantially straight first portion, then a substantially bent second portion, then a third portion, then a fourth portion which is substantially U-shaped and forms the toe portion of the clip, then a fifth portion, then a substantially bent sixth portion, and finally a substantially straight seventh portion, the first and seventh portions of the clip forming leg portions, the longitudinal axes of which lie substantially in a first plane when the clip is in its non-operative configuration and, when the clip is viewed in a direction perpendicular to the said first plane, the third and fifth portions appear to lie between the first and seventh portions. In the prior art the clip is such that in its non-operative configuration the third, fourth and fifth portions of the clip lie in a second plane inclined to the first plane, and, when the clip is in its operative configuration, the third, fourth and fifth portions of the clip lie in a third plane, where the second plane is identical to, or spaced from and parallel to, the first. However, it is desirable to reduce the cost of manufacturing such clips.